


All Paperwork And No Play Make Maria Something Something

by Haywire



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-04
Updated: 2015-07-04
Packaged: 2018-04-07 13:52:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4265655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haywire/pseuds/Haywire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An over(paper)worked Maria gets to vent some frustration in an unexpected way while running errands.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All Paperwork And No Play Make Maria Something Something

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tielan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tielan/gifts).



> An attempt at a kinda-day-in-the-life-but-not-really fic for Maria, written for tielan. Hope you like it! :)

It had been a long day and it wasn’t quite even five o’clock yet. Maria sighed, resisting the temptation to check her watch for what would’ve been at least the hundredth time that afternoon. The day had been dragging on as it was, and now, while she was standing in a long line at her bank, it appeared to have finally come to a complete stop.

Work had been a frustrating experience, thanks in no small part to the mountain of paperwork Maria had to wade through all day. It had been a particularly tedious week, as the annual deadline for year end filing was fast approaching, the time of the year that she - and many others - feared most. This year, just like every other year in recent memory, found her cursing herself for leaving so much to do at the last minute, and vowing that next year she’d definitely not let this happen once again.

Most days she did her banking online, like a normal person she thought, however she’d recently received a cheque from her insurance company that required her to come and deposit it in person. Who even did that anymore, Maria wondered. She supposed that, depending on the amount, perhaps a lot of people didn’t bother depositing them and the companies ended up keeping their money. A few dollars here and there might not matter to individual people but she bet it added up to a fairly significant amount for the insurance companies.

Shaking her head clear of such cynical (and likely true) thoughts, Maria took another few steps forward as the line crawled ahead a little further. Maria chuckled as she compared its speed to that of a glacier and wondered if this is how Steve had felt for all of those years.

Before she could properly admonish herself for even thinking such a thought Maria heard someone behind her scream. She fought the urge to snap around and see what the commotion was all about, not wanting to draw any attention to herself. Instead she looked around, seeking out a nearby window or some other source of reflections that’d let her look without being seen.

More commotion arose before she could pinpoint what was going on, and then she saw it, her fears confirmed: several persons wearing masks and brandishing firearms had entered the bank. A quick count revealed that two were covering the door, another was trying to calm the lady down who’d screamed earlier, and the last one - last one visible, at least, Maria told herself - headed for the nearest cashier, barking orders for them all to hit the ground and not to do anything stupid.

From underneath her jacket, the concealed sidearm Maria always wore seemed like it was completely visible and out in the open when nothing could have been further from the truth. Still, for a few heartbeats she was sure the bank robbers would converge on her any second now and would force her to make a move.

Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to calm down as she further assessed the situation. The bank was crowded and nothing good would come of openly engaging the criminals at that point. Instead she reached into her pocket and hit a button on a fob on her keychain as quietly and nonchalantly as she could, pinging SHIELD for help with a silent panic button. Help would come as quickly as possible, homing in on her GPS position implanted into the same device on her keychain.

“Everyone on the ground, now!” yelled the one member who’d given up on trying to keep the screaming lady quiet. He waved his firearm in the air, visibly agitated and pacing back and forth as the bank’s patrons complied. Maria did as asked as well, making sure to position herself in such a way to easily draw her own weapon when she needed to do so.

“Is that all you’ve got?” said the robber by the tellers, who was pointing her firearm at the cashier and waving a half filled sack in the other hand. “Seriously, there’s got to be more than that here!”

“It’s… it’s all locked up in the back, with a time lock on it. I can’t open it, I swear, I-” the teller started before getting struck in the face with the butt of the robber’s gun. The two men guarding the door exchanged a look before starting toward the one who’d struck the teller.

“Hey, boss, maybe we should just-” started one of the men.

“No, we can’t leave with _this_ ,” she replied, shaking the bag for emphasis as she turned to the other robber.

While they argued, Maria reassessed the situation. The other man at the door was engrossed in the ongoing discussion, and the angry man from earlier was still threatening people to keep quiet or else. The tension was already pretty high and only seemed to be ratcheting higher and higher with each passing second. If she was going to do something about it, she needed to act now while she still could. Help still hadn’t arrived and she had no idea exactly when it’d get there.

When she was sure none of their eyes were on her, Maria sprung into action. She slid her hand inside her jacket and in one swift motion withdrew her gun and undid the safety. The two robbers who were talking about what to do were her first targets, and her first shot struck the gun hand of the woman holding the bag, forcing her to drop her gun with a pained scream of surprise. Her next shot disarmed the other robber, landing square between his shoulder and elbow and knocking him and his firearm to the ground.

Spinning around, Maria took aim at the other gunman by the door, who was initially shocked by her sudden assault but was now starting to react. It took two rounds to drop him, her first squeeze of the trigger taking out one of his legs and the second striking home in his shoulder.

That left the one robber, who had grabbed the screaming woman and held her in front of him as a human shield. He was yelling loudly now too, and the woman was screaming louder than ever before. His gun was pointed to the side of her head and he backed away towards the exit while holding onto her.

“Drop the gun or she gets it!” he yelled in Maria’s direction before turning his head slightly, eyes still on Maria, to shout at his captive. “Shut up! SHUT UP!”

Maria squinted, her sidearm still raised and her arms locked into position as she aimed at the man. In her head she did the math and there was a very good chance she’d be able to take the robber out without harming the woman, but it was far from a certainty, and it would necessitate lethal force on her part.

“Drop the gun, let her go, and you can leave, I promise.” Maria said, knowing how futile that sounded while she said it. She’d just taken out three of his partners in a handful of seconds and by now he had to realize help was on its way.

For an instant, Maria seriously thought about pulling the trigger. She could make the shot - no, dammit, she _would_ make it - and who cared about killing someone who’d do this kind of thing anyway, after all? Her gaze fixated on his forehead, pinpointing exactly where the bullet would strike, where it would enter his body, alive one millisecond, dead the next. It was a risk but a calculated one, one she knew she could make, so why shouldn’t she again?

“No way, you drop yours first!” he roared, breaking her from her brief reverie. The man continued backing away, pushing the barrel of his gun harder against the woman’s forehead.

Before he could do anything further, Maria looked upward and had an idea. Rather than lower her weapon, she finally unlocked her arms and held both arms up in a hands up gesture, the gun still in hand but now pointed up into the air. “Ok, ok, look, it’s going to be ok. See?”

The gesture made the man ease up on the woman, pulling the gun away from her head. He still held her tightly and instead reached his arm out, pointing the weapon at Maria instead. “I told you to drop-”

Before he could finish his sentence, Maria pulled the trigger of her weapon and dodged as quick as she could to one side before the man could retaliate. She landed on her side and looked over in time to see the chandelier at which she’d been aiming come crashing down on both the man and his hostage. The light fixture hadn’t been high enough off the ground to threaten either of them with deadly force but it had done the trick, knocking them both to the ground. The man’s gun scraped loudly against the marble floor as it slid away from him.

As if on cue, the doors to the bank burst open and Maria’s backup arrived, a little late to the party but welcome nonetheless. The agents corralled the robbers and secured the scene, checking the rest of the perimeter to ensure there were no other threats present. There had been a getaway driver outside but he’d already been busted by them.

“Are you alright, ma’am?” asked the SHIELD agent in command of the response team. He looked around, surveying the scene. “Wow, I bet there’s going to be a lot of paperwork to file after all of this.”

Unable to help herself, Maria just grinned in response and tried not to laugh, shaking her head and ignoring the funny look the agent gave her in return.


End file.
